Disability at the Intersections: Expanding Reflective Practices within Special Education Teacher Preparation

Overview & Synopsis

The development of more culturally competent special education teachers is integral to striving for a more equitable education system for all students. However, the development of cultural competency around disability as diversity, especially from an intersectional lens, is often underrepresented in teacher preparation programs. As a result, if it is included at all, it is often at the discretion of individual teachers willing to incorporate such content into their teacher preparation classes. For teacher educators who are searching for ways to infuse disability as diversity content into their coursework, critical disability studies provides a framework for implementation by supporting teacher candidate's critical reflective practice. In adopting such a framework, teacher educators can better target the development of cultural competency in their special education teacher candidates. As such, the aim of the present article is to provide a method of instruction to support the development of critical reflective practices in special education teacher preparation programs.